Good morning. The daily drumbeat of cyberattacks and Twitter account hacks (see below) may have an upside. We know boards of directors are becoming increasingly focused on the existential threat posed by cyber risks, and are engaging with their CIOs on the topic. Rather than helping design better defensive strategies, one expert in cybersecurity believes CIOs should seize this opportunity to develop proactive strategies, and help their organizations develop new business models based on cyber competence and resilience.

Most executives today — and that includes CIOs — “don’t have a clue of what their networks look like,” according to this security consultant, who specializes in helping firms extirpate themselves from complex cyberattacks. One reason is the complexity of corporate networks, which are next to impossible for a single person to grok. Another is that employees often circumvent policies and processes meant to protect the company from intrusion because the rules make it harder for them to get their jobs done.

Eventually, this expert speculates, a new business model is going to emerge that turns excellence in cybersecurity into a true competitive advantage. Some companies are going to thrive because they’ve proven themselves better at protecting customer data, or because they’ve managed to protect their servers and their intellectual property more effectively than their competitors. But there won’t be a single magic bullet; “culture is at the heart of it,” the security expert said. CIOs should use the increased awareness of these existential threats to lead cultural and technological change while they’ve still got time.

American Airlines merger fraught with IT risk. While the merger between AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. still needs to gain approval from the Justice Department, history has shown that clearing IT hurdles may be the toughest challenge. Lori Sharp, vice president of Sabre Airline Solutions, the company that manages American’s reservation system, tells CIO Journal ”there is a certain amount of things that are going to go wrong–it’s never picture perfect.”

Don’t ignore the outliers. The problem with making decisions based on data is that data can sometimes lead decision-makers in the wrong direction, writes Columbia University professor Art Langer in a guest post. ”Outliers can change the world, yet in the world of Big Data, they would never have a chance—quants would cancel them out for diverging from the trend. Seems to me we could have lost some wars depending on such Big Data people,” he writes. “Although many professionals tell you that the data is only one of many decision points, I have found that too many people rely too heavily on its information.”

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Apple falls victim to high profile Mac cyberattack.Apple Inc. said it was attacked by hackers who infected some employee computers, reports Reuters’s Jim Finkle and Joseph Menn. The hacks occurred after employees visited a website for software developers that had been infected with malware that exploits a flaw inOracle Corp.‘s Java plug-in for Web browsers. On Friday, Facebook Inc. reported that it was the victim of a similar attack involving the same malware after developers there visited a compromised developer’s site. A person familiar with the episode tells Reuters “that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software.” The attacks mark the highest-profile action against Mac computers. Hackers traditionally focus on machines running the Windows operating system.

Apple releases fix for Exchange problem. Apple has released an update to its iOS mobile operating system, version 6.1.2, aimed at fixing the Microsoft Exchange bug that has played havoc with email servers of those businesses that allow the Apple iPhone to run on their networks, reports Ars Technica’s Andrew Cunningham.

Twitter sees another major brand hacked. One day after the hack of the Burger King Worldwide Inc. Twitter feed, auto maker Jeep saw its Twitter handle hijacked by hackers with the same weakness for gibberish. Burger King added 5,000 new followers within the first 30 minutes of Monday’s hack, reported Mashable’s Annie Colbert and Jeep, too, might gain in this regard. But Twitter Inc., which has seen two embarrassing security episodes in two days, has some explaining to do. “Brands that spend money on maintaining a Twitter presence are certainly right to question why the company isn’t taking security more seriously,” writes the Verge’s Nathan Ingraham. Gizmodo’s Sam Biddle has a hunch “an esteemed former hacker of MySpace pages” is behind both hacks, and provides some background color on the juvenile culture that inspires such attacks.

Google claims victory against some Gmail threats.Google Inc., in a blog post Tuesday, said security measures put in place to prevent attackers from breaking into Gmail accounts has reduced the number of compromised accounts by 99.7% since 2011, when account hijacking attempts were at their peak. While Google uses its blog post to encourage users to upgrade their account to two-step verification–and partake in some horn tooting–Google shares interesting factoids about the steps criminals have taken to access Gmail accounts: “We’ve seen a single attacker using stolen passwords to attempt to break into a million different Google accounts every single day, for weeks at a time. A different gang attempted sign-ins at a rate of more than 100 accounts per second.” Yikes.

Using Big Data helped Netflix decide on ‘House of Cards.’ When deciding whether to tackle a remake of the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries ”House of Cards,” Netflix Inc. consulted its viewing logs and discovered that fans of the original series liked works involving director David Fincher and actor Kevin Spacey, both of whom were connected to the proposed show. Fast Company’s Kyle Vanhemert fears that a new emphasis on such data-driven programming could result in future shows bearing similarities to past hits. Complaint duly noted, but that fear was already confirmed long before “Happy Days” begat “Laverne & Shirley” begat “Joanie Loves Chachi.”

Microsoft works to integrate Lync, Skype. Microsoft Corp. Tuesday announced new integration between the teams running its Skype and Lync communication systems, reports the Next Web‘s Alex Wilhelm. Starting in June, users of the more business-focused Lync system will be able to directly call or IM Skype users. Mobile versions of Lync will be available in early March for Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Apple’s iOS; an app for Android is coming in April. Video calling will be launched at a later date. The two Microsoft product teams are undergoing their own integration, but ReadWrite’s Mark Hachman wonders why the company persists in having two apps that perform essentially the same functions.

Microsoft’s Skype unit close to $2 billion in sales. Tuesday Microsoft also said the number of Lync users surged from three million 14 months ago to five million users today, reports Bloomberg’s Dina Bass. The division, which includes both the Skype unit and the Lync unit, is approaching $2 billion in annual sales. Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion.

Dell’s earnings slide, but results bolster LBO critics.Dell Inc. posted a steep drop in fiscal Q4 profit and revenue, but the results were strong enough to bolster investors who say the LBO undervalues the company, writes the WSJ’s Ben Worthen. While revenue from PCs fell 20% in the quarter, Southeastern Asset Management — Dell’s largest outside shareholder and one of the deal critics — is focused on the percentage of Dell’s profits that come from software, storage systems and other non-PC businesses. CFO Brian Gladden said the company was moving forward with its strategy to build out a portfolio of products and services that it can sell to businesses – including security software, storage systems, networking gear and the like. In the fourth quarter, sales of the company’s servers and networking gear climbed 18%.

Microsoft’s Windows ‘Blue’ may have just hit milestone 1. The Windows team at Microsoft just completed the first milestone build (M1) of Windows ‘Blue,’ the first full-fledged update to Windows 8, sources tell ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley. Windows ‘Blue’ is believed to be the first of a number of annual operating system updates to Windows 8. There also is a Windows Phone ‘Blue’ in the works that is expected to have the same core code as Windows ‘Blue.’

HTC unveils new flagship smartphone. Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. unveiled its new flagship device, the HTC One, a crucial device as the company seeks to regain lost ground in an increasingly competitive market, the WSJ’s Thomas Gryta and Aries Poon report. The One phone, detailed at joint events in New York and London, is a touchscreen device that resembles the latest products from bigger competitors in the market, including an all-aluminum body and the Android operating system. The phone also integrates updates to HTC’s software interface, HTC Sense, including a feature called BlinkFeed that aggregates alerts from a variety of sources.

Tech giants launch health-science prize. Russian tech investor Yuri Milner has joined with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin to create a new $3 million prize for health-science research, the WSJ’s Geoffrey A. Fowler reports. The organizers of the Breakthrough Prize, designed to help advance research and celebrate scientists, plan to launch it Wednesday in San Francisco. The prize, which comes with a cash grant of $3 million per award, will be one of the most lucrative annual science awards. In comparison, winners of the Nobel Prize are paid about $1.27 million.

Microsoft’s Hotmail refresh now has 60 million users. Microsoft says its free Outlook.com email service, in preview since July 31, has 60 million users. The company reported that a third of its users have come from rival Google’s Gmail service. The number of Outlook.com users should surge in the coming month as Microsoft starts to move customers from its Hotmail service, Outlook.com’s senior director tells Bloomberg’s Dina Bass. In related news, a devotee of the creaky Hotmail service describes to Guardian readers, “why I’ve lived with the shame for 15 years.”

EVERYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW

Sequester battle sets up test for economic theories. The sequester battle between President Obama and congressional Republicans is shifting from one about stopping the cuts to one about assigning blame if they happen. The efforts show how crucial the sequester has become in the debate over the size and scope of the federal government, the Washington Post’s Zachary A. Goldfarb writes. If the cuts go through – as they are set to on March 1 — and Americans don’t see them as a major problem, that could be bolster the GOP view that the government is too big and a hindrance to private-sector growth. But if there’s a backlash, public sentiment is likely to shift toward the Democrats.

Crisis in Europe flares up. Bulgaria’s government resigned today after a wave of anti-austerity protests. President Rosen Plevneliev will now likely seek to form a caretaker government to administer the country, the WSJ reports. On Monday, Mr. Plevneliev pushed out his pro-austerity finance minister to mollify critics, and Wednesday the government moved to cut electricity prices, but that didn’t satisfy protesters. And in Greece, workers are staging a 24-hour protest against austerity policies, keeping ferries stuck in ports, schools shut and hospitals with only emergency staff, Reuters reports.

Uptick in business lending exposes risks to banks. Banks are putting their liquidity to work with a big uptick in business lending. But as the WSJ’s Shayndi Raice writes, the cheap rates and flexible terms they’re offering are raising worries about the risks. Commercial and industrial loans jumped 4.4% in Q4 and 16% for all of 2012. But as lenders compete, the profitability of the loans they’re making is under pressure. More than half of banks surveyed in the quarterly Fed survey of loan officers said that lending spreads had narrowed in the past three months.

FBI investigates Heinz trades. The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into a big options trade made the day before last week’s $23 billion buyout of Heinz, the WSJ reports. The move ratchets up the stakes for the traders who allegedly made the bet using a Swiss account. Once authorities identify the traders, the SEC and FBI will turn their focus to the “limited universe of insiders who could have leaked details of the deal,” DealBook says. Dozens of people — including executives at both the buyers and the seller — possessed confidential information about the deal.

Titan CEO lashes out at French workers.Titan International CEO Maurice Taylor is making some waves in Europe after he tore into French workers’ productivity, the FT reports. “The French workforce gets paid high wages but work only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told the French union workers to their faces. They told me that’s the French way!” Mr. Taylor’s comments are from a letter published in the French financial newspaper Les Echos. He was responding to an approach by Arnaud Montebourg, France’s industry minister, to see if Titan was willing to take over any of the operations at a Goodyear factory in the town of Amiens that is set for closure. “Goodyear tried for over four years to save part of the Amiens jobs that are some of the highest paid, but the French unions and the French government did nothing but talk.”

The factors that render the electrical grid vulnerable to cyber attack are strikingly similar to the cyber risk issues faced by health care, financial services, and other industries. But one recent malware campaign targeting utilities shows just how exposed the grid remains to cyber threats.